The Case of the Statue Wearing Skivvies at Wellesley (CSWSW) is probably not funny--not funny at all. In fact, I'm sure it's a Very Serious Matter for those who take such things very seriously, so those people should probably stop reading right now. Go ahead! Go read something more jargon-laced and leave the rest of us alone to chuckle guiltily amongst ourselves!
(Are they gone yet?)
So the situation, which has been dissected unto death elsewhere, is this: a statue called "Sleepwalker" by Tony Matelli has been erected outside a museum on Wellesley's campus to publicize an exhibit of the artist's work. The statue (go look at it!) portrays a sleepwalking man clad only in underwear. He looks kind of creepy, although not sexual-predator creepy or Zombie Apocalypse creepy--more like someone on the verge of letting a big wad of drool drip down onto your boots if you get too close. Then again, few of us look our best while sleepwalking, so maybe we should give the guy a break. He can't help how he looks! He's a statue!
"Sleepwalker" does not strike me as threatening, but I might respond differently if I suddenly spotted him over my shoulder on a dark night. More than 100 students have signed a petition protesting the statue because it makes them feel "unsafe" and it "steps over a line." (Ever try to persuade a sleepwalker to step over a line? Good luck! Not to mention that statues are not known for their mobility.)
I don't know just where I stand on the CSWSW kerfuffle--except I'm not inclined to stand too close. Wouldn't want him to drool all over my new boots. Will someone for heaven's sake give the man a blanket?!
3 comments:
Thanks for the links. I looked at some of the arguments, and it's an interesting problem.
One of the student commenters said that their college is a space where they should "feel safe." I would disagree, to some extent. I think college is a place where you should be safe, but where you should feel so challenged that it doesn't always feel safe. Great art challenges, often, in ways that produce discomfort and thought, and response.
Wellesley was one of my niece's options last year (i.e. she got in, with a nice financial aid package), and something of a sentimental family favorite, since it's my late mother's alma mater. Let's just say that this particular kerfuffle did not leave me regretting her decision to go elsewhere. I'm sure this is just a few students overthinking things, and there are many other, more worthy activities going on there, but for goodness sake! Among other things, way to conform to the stereotype of the humorless, overwrought feminist.
I also like Bardiac's point about being vs. feeling safe. The "safe space" is a worthy ideal, but, like most ideals, very hard to make a reality, especially when it starts bumping up against other ideals, e.g. respecting diversity (including diversity in what people think about various issues, and how they react to various experiences, including encountering an oddly lifelike statue of a sleepwalking fellow in his skivvies, and briefly mistaking him for an actual human being). While I respect that emotional pain is a very real thing (to the point of being life-threatening in some cases), I don't think we can ever promise a community space that both values ideas and the examination thereof and protects its participants from ever having their feelings hurt. The most we can probably manage is a space where a participant's statement that hir feelings *are* hurt (and/or that (s)he is frightened, disturbed, angered, etc.) is treated with respect (without ridicule or other suggestion that the feeling is somehow wrong, but also without the assumption that that feeling signals that somebody else did something wrong, and that the wrong needs to be redressed).
This sentence ought to be engraved on the walls of every classroom: "college is a place where you should be safe, but where you should feel so challenged that it doesn't always feel safe."
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